--The whole Rick Jackson/Scoop Jardine thing was not a package deal for Syracuse. Jardine committed first with Jackson committing a week later. Both had said since their freshman year of high school they would go to the same college. But when it came down to the decision, it was each man on his own. Syracuse didn't recruit Jackson (who at the beginning of the process was the lower rated of the two) just to get Jardine (who is now rated lower than Jackson). It just happened that way.

--Jackson's mother really wanted him to go to Wake Forest.

--I know the whole "going to college for the degree" can sound a little cliche, but with Jackson and his family, it was true. It's quite a touching story about a kid using basketball as a means to get a better life for him and his family. I hope it all works out for him. Time will tell.

--I mentioned in the story how Jackson's parents used to play him in basketball and beat him all the time. Well, he got his revenge last summer. He was playing his mom in the playground across from their house and he backed her down and dunked in her face.

"Everybody said, 'No you didn't. Why'd you do that to your mom?'" Joyce Thomas said. "And Rick said, 'Y'all don't know what she used to do.'"

So now Thomas said she "tortures" her middle son, Daquian, 9. She's yet to play her youngest son, Jaylen, 5.